


Close Encounters of the Fin-Kind

by ericsonclan



Series: Mermaid Cove [1]
Category: The Walking Dead (Telltale Video Game)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Mermaids, F/F, F/M, First Meetings, Funny
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-01-06
Updated: 2021-01-07
Packaged: 2021-03-17 10:02:08
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,784
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28598133
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ericsonclan/pseuds/ericsonclan
Summary: Marine biologists Clementine Everett and Prisha Chakyar visit Fenrell Cove on a research grant to learn the long-lost secrets of the area. What they find there is certainly not what they had expected.
Relationships: Clementine/Louis (Walking Dead: Done Running), Prisha/Violet (Walking Dead: Done Running)
Series: Mermaid Cove [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2095545
Comments: 2
Kudos: 6





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> (by Laura)

“Can you believe it, Prish?” Clem glanced back at her best friend before continuing to scale the slippery rocks. “Months of paperwork and bureaucracy all to get to this moment!”

“It certainly is thrilling,” Prisha repositioned her wide brimmed hat before venturing further into the cave. “There was a point where I thought those pompous old fools would never give us the money for this expedition,”

“Well, those pompous old fools are still the ones funding this expedition so let’s tone the name calling down in our reports back,”

“Oh, of course! I’ll be the pinnacle of professionalism when it comes to the written word. But what they won’t hear won’t hurt them,” Prisha grinned mischievously at Clementine before hopping down onto the sandy shore of the inner cave. “Alright, just a little further and we’ll reach it,”

“The long-forsaken Fenrell Cove,” Clementine whispered the name reverently. “Can’t believe it’s been untouched for this long. Can you imagine the type of samples we can take here? Who knows, maybe we’ll even find a new species! Then I can name a sea sponge Prishacus Porifera like I always planned,”

“Well then, the first new species of sea cucumber I get my hands on will bear the name Clementina Holothuroidea for all eternity,” Prisha quipped.

Clementine was about to come up with an even greater threat than sea sponge namesakes when her eyes caught a glint of light round the corner of the cave. “We’re almost there!”

Prisha clammed up quickly, her focus turning instead to prepping their equipment. Pulling the camera out, she undid the cap on the lens, making sure the strap was steady round her neck before raising it close to her eye, ready to capture the first look mankind had had of Fenrell Cove in centuries.

The pair entered the cove in reverent silence, their eyes large as they took in its beauty. The walls of the cave had broadened and the ceiling had opened up to a clear sky, shining brightly upon the aquamarine water, crystal clear and revealing a plethora of plant and animal life along its peripheries. The marine biologists shared a look, both practically itching to set up their equipment and start their research.

“That patch of rocks looks like our best bet,” Clementine gestured a ways inward where a clump of rocks looked as though the sun had dried their algae-covered surfaces enough to not be as precariously slippery. Prisha silently nodding, pausing again and again on their journey over there to capture snapshots of everything that was around them. Clementine’s fingers tapped against the pocket of her cargo pants where her journal lay tucked away. She understood what Prisha was feeling; she couldn’t wait to start taking notes either. They were only covered for two months of research out here but if this cove was the treasure trove of information they believed it to be, she was sure they could bring back a discovery that would ensure future funding for years to come.

Setting up base for the day, the duo split up to do their separate tasks: Prisha documented everything she came across through her photography while Clementine’s careful notes and sketches gave a detailed summary of the layout and structure of the cove and cave surrounding it. Today would be all about getting a feel for the place; tonight they would convene together and compare notes to decide where their priorities must lie for the time allotted.

Clementine found a perch atop a particularly tall assortments of rocks upon the shore, taking the opportunity to sketch the overall landscape surrounding her. She was determined to have something extraordinary to show for each and every day of her time here, at least, extraordinary to the marine biologist community. She doubted they would come across a species distinct enough to garner national attention, but if she could do her own small part to share the beauty of the unknown world and make the wildlife here the safer for it, she’d feel she had accomplished the goals she set out to achieve in this field from the start.

The sound of a camera shutter repeatedly closing drew Clementine’s attention over to her friend, Prisha. Clementine smiled fondly over at her friend. To have stuck together from undergrad through their masters and now into their own original research was really something. Clem had always hoped that in some small way her parents were watching her proudly from up above, cheering her on. Lee and her little brother AJ were cheering from back home as well, but it was something special to have her friend right beside her through this, just as excited as she was about everything they would be discovering.

A shimmer from the shoreline suddenly drew Clementine’s attention. Setting aside her notebook on top of the highest rock, she cautiously stepped closer to investigate. It appeared to be some sort of seaweed growing in the shallow waters, but it was of a more vibrant tone than Clementine had ever witnessed of foliage. Crouching over the water, Clementine examined it with interest. It swayed back and forth lazily with the ebb and flow of the cove’s tide. The veins of the leaf she could see were quite pronounced, a darker green against the bright, serene glow of the lighter tones of the body of the leaf. Reaching into her waist pack and pulling out an examining glove, Clementine pulled it onto her hand before letting her fingers drift into the water and reach out to touch the curious specimen.

But as soon as her fingers had brushed against the delicate edges of the leaf there was a sudden flash and the leaf was there no more, disappearing in a sudden blur before her very eyes. Clementine’s hand remained frozen within the water where the leaf had just been. Or had it not been a leaf at all? The veining upon the leaf, the gentle sway of its movements within the lagoon. Had this perhaps been some sort of creature whose appendages appeared like algae for its own protection? Whether fish, crustacean or other aquatic animal, Clementine was sure there was no species like it on record yet. Withdrawing her hand from the water, she moved to return to her notebook.

That was when it happened. A splash of water had her eyes drifting upwards and all of a sudden a young man arose from the water. His skin was darker than hers and freckled, his hair styled in dreadlocks and his chest bare. He eyed Clementine curiously, silent.

Clementine was at a loss for words. There was no sort of civilization for at least a hundred miles round these parts and by all accounts Fenrell Cove had been lost to the sands of time until she and Prisha had pinpointed its location and successfully rediscovered it. This couldn’t be some random tourist who had stumbled upon the cove by happenstance. But then who in the world could he be?

The young man’s warm brown eyes watched her with interest. Did he speak English? Should she try to communicate with him? Before Clementine could decide, the stranger opened his mouth… and a minnow wriggled out. The tiny fish fell back into the water with a plop, instantly disappearing within its depths. What in the world? Why had that been in his mouth? Was he planning to eat it, live? The young man suddenly closed his eyes and shook his head wildly, causing his dreads to twirl and spray Clementine with droplets of water.

“Hey! What the hell?” Clementine exclaimed, shielding herself from the barrage. Her outburst drew Prisha’s attention who rose from her position and hurried over at the sight of a half-naked stranger within the cove. Her expression hardened as she approached.

“Sir, do you have any idea what kind of a priceless environmental sanctuary you have decided to desecrate with your leisurely swim? I would advise you go right back to whatever pleasure cruise you jumped off of and set your sights-”

Her words were cut short by the young man finally breaking his silence. But instead of words, a series of squeaks and trills emitted from his throat as he looked back and forth between the girls. A bright smile was upon his face, one undiminished by the utter befuddlement of his present company. Prisha and Clementine looked at each other in confusion. That wasn’t any sort of language they knew. Who in the world was this strange man?

A disturbance on the surface of the water signaled the arrival of someone or something else. This time it was a young woman who emerged from the water, but only up to her mouth. She was pale with short blonde hair and sea green eyes, eyes which were observing them suspiciously as her mouth turned down in a frown. She turned to the young man, letting out a series of throaty chirps which seemed to alter his good mood. Her dreadlocked companion shook his head, warbling something back to her which was utterly unintelligible to the biologists.

Clementine caught Prisha’s eye; her own widened as her friend rose to her feet, her hands raised in a gesture of pacifism. “Prish-”

“Please,” Prisha began, looking back and forth between both of the swimmers. “There seems to be some sort of misunderstanding. If we could simply-” A wave of water suddenly came crashing towards Prisha, drenching her and her camera in the process. Her eyes blazed with anger at that. “How dare you? This is expensive scientific equipment!” She strode forward to accost them further only for her feet to slip upon a particularly thick patch of algae. The marine biologist fell directly into the cove with a helpless cry.

“Prisha!” Clementine leapt forward to grab hold of her friend and pull her back onshore. The mysterious swimmers seemed utterly frightened by the splash, immediately diving below the surface of the water. It took a minute for Clementine to get enough leverage on the slimy shore to help Prisha back upon the rocks. After making sure Prisha was in no further danger, Clementine looked back to the cove – both the man and the woman were gone. There was no trace of them, as though they had never been there at all. Still, they had to have resurfaced for air somewhere. They couldn’t stay underwater forever.

“Perhaps they made a run for it,” Prisha muttered, angrily wringing out her sopping wet braid.

“Maybe… but why? What could we have done to stop them? Write a strongly worded letter to UNESCO?”

“It’s likely they were ashamed to be caught,” Prisha replied. “At least that would mean they had some measure of dignity remaining despite their blatant contamination of the cove’s waters,”

“I don’t know. They seemed… off,” Clementine pondered, a hand to her chin. “When that guy first tried to speak to me, he had a minnow in his mouth. A live one. Who even does that?”

“Delinquents, that’s who. Freaks with primal desires who frolic untethered where they think no one will see,” Prisha’s anger turned to despair as she looked to her camera. “I wasn’t under long, was I? Perhaps if I disassemble it, we can still save the equipment if not the film. Clem?”

Clementine shook herself out of her thoughts, turning to help her friend. “Right! Let’s get back to base and see what we can salvage. We can go from there,” Heading back to the rest of their equipment, the scientists chatted animatedly of what they had seen so far and what they hoped it meant they would discover through future research. No matter how bizarre that encounter was, they weren’t about to let it throw them off of their course: they were here to learn all that Fenrell Cove held within its waters. They had only just begun.


	2. A Rather Slimy Present

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Clementine isn't sure if she'll ever see that strange boy again when all of the sudden he reappears.

After the bizarre encounter Clementine and Prisha had experienced the other day, the pair went into their second day at Fenrell Cove not knowing exactly what to expect. Would the mysterious, strangely silent swimmers be back for another visit or were they gone for good? With no way to know, both girls set about continuing their research, Clementine with her trusty notebook and Prisha with her older backup camera since her favorite camera that had fallen into the water yesterday was disassembled and still drying on the boat in hopes that it could be saved.

Returning to the point where they had run into the strange pair of swimmers the day before, Clementine surveyed the water in hopes of seeing the same pale green leaf that had drawn her attention the first day. No, not a leaf, it must be attached to some sort of animal. Whatever animal that was, it and its camouflage had moved on to calmer waters since Clementine could not find the bit of faux foliage anywhere. Setting aside that endeavor for now, Clementine instead circled round the shoreline to another section of the cove to investigate further and perhaps to move out of earshot of Prisha’s constant grumbling over the shoddy quality of her current equipment and her threats should she ever come across those two nincompoops again.

Passing a small clump of bushes she had only fleetingly explored the other day, Clementine headed to an isolated section of the cove, one banked by a cave wall that joined with it to form a sort of cozy grotto directly by the shoreline. Taking a seat in the soft sand just inches from the water, Clementine began compiling notes about what she observed around her. Though crystal clear, the surface of the water kept hidden whatever species dwelt beneath its currents. It must be that there was a sudden drop off here instead of the usual shallows that would lead into further depths. Perhaps this would be a good entry point for her and Prisha in the scuba portion of their investigation.

Jotting this down, Clementine’s focus turned skyward. The portion of the cove she was currently in was also still within the cave. The setup somewhat reminded Clementine of how the inside of Skull Island looked in the old _Peter Pan_ film: there was the enclosed intimacy of the cave walls but the amount of light let in through the immense entrance meant that nothing about this portion of the cove felt cold or dreary. It was a pleasant, secluded place. Perhaps that supported some of the theories she and Prisha had read about Fenrell Cove, that it at one time was the site of religious rituals for islanders from distant shores that were now long gone.

Or were they? Was it possible that the strange boy and girl they had encountered might in fact be familiar with the cove or even residents? Could that explain their total bewilderment with the English language? No, that was crazy. It was like Prisha had said (again and again in her impassioned rant last night) – they must have been tourists on an ocean cruise who had swum out and found the cove by happenstance, nothing more.

A disturbance in the water suddenly drew Clementine’s attention to its surface. Her eyes widened in surprise as she saw what had caused it. There before her was the same boy from yesterday, smiling brightly at her. His dreads dripped droplets onto the surface of the water as he drew nearer, his eyes locked with hers. Setting aside her notebook, Clementine moved closer to speak with him. “I wasn’t expecting to see you again,”

He had no reaction to her words, simply staring steadily at her, his eyes large and bright with interest.

“That was pretty shitty what happened to my friend because of you,” Clementine attempted again. “You pretty much wrecked her best camera. I think you owe her an apology,”

Still no response. The young man was as silent as ever, though his focus had shifted from her face to her legs which were tucked beside Clementine as she sat on the sand. Clementine glanced at her legs. There was nothing weird about what she was wearing unless cargo pants were considered an unforgivable fashion faux pax. Was he actually looking at her notebook behind her? Clementine moved to grab it but lifting it up in the air to share with him did nothing to draw his focus away. Her legs did look pretty scratched up. Perhaps that was it?

Clementine ran a finger along a particularly lengthy scratch. “They got sort of banged up yesterday. Some of it’s from when I lunged forward to save Prisha, but the rocks around here are pretty fucking slippery so I fell down a lot more after that. Some of these are permanent too, just left over from other expeditions. Like this one-” Clementine paused, looking over at the boy again. He was listening to every word she said with rapt attention, but it was clear none of it was getting through to him. “You don’t know English?”

A few small squeaks came out of his mouth. He looked at Clementine expectantly. Was that a… language? He did seem to be trying to communicate.

Unsure what else to do, Clementine squeaked back a couple times.

The young man’s nose wrinkled in confusion. Whatever that sound she had made was, it was apparently nonsense. Suddenly he dove down, disappearing deep below the water. Clementine leaned over to try to spot him but couldn’t see anything. Had she offended him somehow? She truly hoped not. Clementine continued to wait, watching the surface of the water for any sign of movement. Nothing. How long was he going to stay under there? It had already been about a minute, which Clementine was ashamed to admit was her limit.

She hadn’t been able to spot him or the girl emerging from the water either. Did that mean they’d stayed underwater till she and Prisha had walked away? Intrigued, Clementine started up the timer on her wristwatch. Either he’d emerge within the next few minutes somewhere within eyesight or there were secret tunnels within the cave’s waters that allowed him to disappear and surface elsewhere.

Three minutes passed. Then five. Then ten. Clementine had been watching the shoreline the entire time. Either he was the fastest swimmer ever and had crossed the length of the cave to reach the exterior of the cove without her seeing or Clementine’s underwater tunnel theory was correct. Either way, he seemed long gone for the day. Letting out a small sigh, Clementine picked up her notebook to return to her work. Then a bright chirp came from in front of her. Glancing back up, Clementine felt her jaw go slack in shock. “What the-”

The mystery boy was before her once more but this time instead of the slippery minnow that had fallen from his mouth the first time they met there was a full-sized fish wriggling within his toothy grasp. Letting out another short trill, the boy leaned forward and spat the fish out upon the shore, smiling at her proudly.

“What the fuck,” Clementine whispered in bewilderment. “Did-did you catch that? With your teeth?”

Seeming to pick up on her general gestures between him and the fish, the young man nodded, his chest swelling as he grinned with self-satisfaction. When he caught Clementine staring though, he suddenly grew self-conscious and looked away in embarrassment.

Clementine looked back over to the fish, still flopping on shore with desperate vigor. This wasn’t the sort of puny guppy you would catch on your first fishing trip and take photos with as you looked goofy in your bucket hat. This was the sort of fish you would brag about as the one that got away. And this strange young man had caught it… with his teeth.

The cruise ship passenger theory was completely out the window. But did that mean that Clementine’s native islander theory was their next best guess? This young man seemed completely unaware of the meaning of anything in English and was an incredibly proficient swimmer who seemed to know the ins and outs of this cove like the back of his hand. Would it be so crazy to think that the islanders that had been spoken of in ancient records hadn’t been wiped out but instead were merely forgotten by the rest of the world and continued with their lives as always?

Clementine gazed at the young man with intense curiosity. He met her eyes shyly, drifting closer to her. The freckles smattered across his chest and shoulders stood out upon his skin as it shone in the morning light. He was so close and just as curious of Clementine as she was of him. Trying to communicate, Clementine raised a hand and pressed it to her heart. “Thank you. I really appreciate the gift,”

The boy’s eyes brightened in joy as he recognized her thankfulness. Letting out a series of happy, short barks, he twirled round in the water again and again, enraptured by joy.

All of a sudden a rustling sound drew both of their attentions to the bush. The boy’s eyes widened in fright before he dove for cover under the water, disappearing once more into its deceptively clear depths.

“No, wait!” Clementine cried, but it was no use. He was already gone, and Clementine had a feeling that this time he wouldn’t return in just a matter of minutes.

Prisha emerged from the bushes, camera raised expectantly. Her expression fell when she saw Clementine’s face. “I scared it off, didn’t I? I was heading over this way and heard some sort of animal cry that sounded almost like a bottlenose dolphin. I tried to approach quietly enough to not arouse alarm, but it’s clear I was unsuccessful,”

Clementine shook her head. “It wasn’t an animal. It was _him_. The same boy we saw yesterday?”

“What?” Prisha’s brows knit together as she frowned. “I was sure he and that sour-faced companion of his would have been long gone by now. A cruise never stays in one place for long,”

“That’s the thing. I don’t think they’re with a cruise. Look what he brought me today. He caught this in his mouth,” Clementine gestured to the large fish now dead at her feet.

“In his mouth?! Surely you can’t be serious,”

“Look!” Clementine pointed to a series of indentations upon the scales. “See that? Those are teeth marks!”

“My stars…” Prisha leaned over the fish, gaping at it in bemusement. “What sort of manner of man would do such a thing?”

“Prisha,” Clementine’s voice dropped to a conspiratorial whisper as she locked eyes with her friend. “I don’t think this island is uninhabited after all,”


End file.
